Kyungah Ham

Kyungah Ham’s sculptures, videos and embroidered works delve into the realm of the socio-political – questioning the labor, politics, nationhood, social identity and freedom of information in her native Korea. She explores her nation’s history as a provocateur, subtly building layers of meaning with each step in her process to kindle an enduring political discourse. Her embroidered works embody an approach initiated by Ham in 2008. Here, she collects information available in South Korea – ranging from images of Western abstract paintings to South Korean slang – and, through an intermediary, sends them as a blueprint to be embroidered in North Korea. Through the works, she extends the offer of authorship to the embroiderers, as they must occasionally alter the works due to censorship. On the surface, the works are luminous and poetic, but the real material lies in the process of information and communication within.

She received her BFA from the Seoul National University and MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York. Upcoming exhibition: carlier | gebauer, Madrid. She has participated in exhibitions in South Korea and internationally, including at the Kunstmuseum Bonn; Kunsthalle Düsseldorf; Charlottenborg Exhibition Hall, Copenhagen, Denmark; and the Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna, Austria. Her work can be found in numerous public collections, among them, Victoria & Albert Museum; Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul; MMCA, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea; and the Seoul Museum of Art.

Biography

Selected Works

Kyungah Ham

Phantom and A Map / Poetry 03WBXS01, 2018-2024
North Korean hand embroidery, silk threads on cotton, middleman, smuggling, bribe, tension, anxiety, censorship,ideology, approx. 800hrs/1 person, rayon, cotton, polyester grosgrain, herringbone grosgrain ribbon tape, adhesive, wooden canvas, aluminum frame
66,1 × 101,1 × 5,1 cm

Kyungah Ham

Phantom and A Map / Les Fleurs du Mal 01M01V1 + Phantom and A Map / Les Fleurs du Mal 02 M01V1, 2018-2024
North Korean hand embroidery, silk threads on cotton, middleman, smuggling, bribe, tension, anxiety, censorship, ideology, approx. 1400hrs/1 person, rayon, cotton, velvet, polyester grosgrain, herringbone grosgrain ribbon tape, adhesive, wooden canvas, aluminum frame
2x 145 × 145 cm

Kyungah Ham

Phantom and A Map / Poetry
2018–2024
North Korean hand embroidery, silk threads on cotton, middleman, smuggling, bribe, tension, anxiety, censorship, ideology, approx. 1800hrs/1 person, velvet, rayon, cotton, polyester grosgrain, herringbone grosgrain ribbon tape, adhesive, wooden canvas, aluminum frame
140 × 326.6 cm

Kyungah Ham

What you see is the unseen / Chandeliers for Five Cities BK 03-05, 2016 / 2017
North Korean Hand Embroidery, silk threads on cotton, middle man, anxiety, censorship, ideology, wooden frame, appox. 2200 hrs/2persons
245 × 180 cm

Kyungah Ham

Abstract Weave / Morris Louis Untitled 1960 SS02, 2014
Machine embroidery on cotton, collected internet world news, tassel, wooden frame
112 × 208 cm

Kyungah Ham

Composition / Persuasive Mr. K’s crude humour with swimming Glucosamine like a snake, 2017 / 2018
North Korean hand embroidery, silk threads on cotton, middle man, secret code, bribe, anxiety, cencorship, idealogy, wooden frame
2 parts, 111 × 109 cm

Kyungah Ham

Abstract Weave / Morris Louis Zayin 1958 SS01-01, 2015
Machine embroidery on cotton, collected internet world news, tassel, wooden frame
123 × 168 cm

Kyungah Ham

Floating mysterious nicergoline, detail from SMS series 03, 2017 / 2018
North Korean hand embroidery, silk threads on cotton, middle man, secret code, bribe, anxiety, censorship, ideology, wooden frame
55 × 75 cm

Kyungah Ham

What you see is the unseen / Chandeliers for Five Cities BR 04-04, 2016
North Korean hand embroidery, silk threads on cotton, middleman, anxiety, censorship, ideology, wooden frame, approx. 2200hrs/2persons
255 × 184 cm